So time to feedback from the Coors light hops experiment.
Just to recap on the method. To each bottle I added approximately 3 pellets of a single variety and resealed. I then stored them at room temp for 2 days periodically inverting to mix and re-suspend to hop material. I then cold crashed each bottle in my fridge for 24 hours.
For two varieties I had to use leaf (simcoe and galaxy) and because I was too lazy to weigh the leaf I just guessed what would be similar to three pellets in terms of mass. The limitation with leaf hops is the what you can get in the neck of the bottle without it foaming and overflowing.
Oxidation is not a issue with this method because the head space is immediately purged by escaping CO2 when the hops are added.
14 bottles where prepared in total, 7 hop varieties each performed in duplicate.
The hops were poured into a plastic pint glass through a tea strainer one at a time and each inspected for aroma and then tasted. Before preceding to the next. After which combinations which seemed appealing where then blended, the objective of which was to produce a drinkable "dank" style IPA.
I did the testing with a friend, I would say my pallet is reasonably educated as I can quite easily pick out off flavors in beers but it is by no means expert. My friend is not a brewer but he is a experienced real ale and craft beer drinker.
Two things I need to highlight from the start, the first is not all the hops were as fresh as others. Summit, Galaxy and Chinook had been stored in my freezer for some time, although in Mylar bags with the air squeezed out. The second is that 7 hop varieties is too many to try, by the end of tasting and smelling 7 varieties and then mixing them your senses are pretty tired and things can be hard to distinguish.
Below is a picture from the day
So for the results;
Comet
Aroma: pine, grass, marijuana, pineapple, citrus
Taste: pineapple, grapefruit, pepper, light resinous quality, overall quite clean
Definitely comet is dank, but not the super dank monster that some people claim. Did taste delicious though, especially the pineapple quality.
Apollo
Aroma: Onion/savory, marijuana, earthy, herbal
Taste: Sweet Orange flavor predominates, resinous, quite bitter, apricot and stone fruits
Very Dank on the nose, I think mainly because of the very muted citrus aroma makes the other qualities standout. The onion quality was not distracting at all, more savory than specifically onion.
Chinook
Aroma: Very resinous and oily, mild citrus, herbal, mild pine
Taste: grapefruit, pine, herbal, resinous, passion fruit, long lasting residual bitterness
Not particularly pleasant, at least on it own.
Simcoe
The dose was too low to make a fair comment here, very muted flavours
Galaxy
Aroma: Marijuana, pine, grassy, fruity ( couldn't discern any specific)
Taste: Resins, pine, fruits (mango and passion)
Very strong flavor overall, "dank" qualities where second to Apollo and probably on par with comet.
Mosaic
Aroma:Grass, herbal, savory, resins, tropical fruits.
taste: Very clean, virtually no resinous flavor, lots or berry and tropical fruits
Complex and beautiful tasting, but not dank.
Summit: Marijuana, grassy. No onion. Very muted aroma overall.
Taste: Clean but with a little resin, Orange and pine. Again not very strong
This could be a crop or storage issue but it was a poor mans Apollo in this test. My suspicion is the age of the hop.
Combinations;
1:1 Apollo Comet
You could taste both, but overall unexciting
2:1 Apollo Comet
Again a good balance of flavors but more drinkable than a 1:1 ratio
1: 1: 1 Apollo, Comet, Galaxy
The tropical fruits from the galaxy distracted significantly from the overall flavor they did not compliment or make the over hops pop.
2: 1: 0.5 Apollo, Comet, Galaxy
No real improvement on the above
2 : 1 : 0.5 Apollo, Comet, Mosaic
pleasant, well rounded but muddled. The mosaic was again distraction.
1: 1: comet chinook
The chinook was completely drown out and over powered by the comet, again didn't add anything
Conclusion
So my conclusion is that Apollo has by far the best aroma and by far the most dank qualities. My theory is this is because of the lack of fruit aroma and strong aroma of Marijuana along side over woodland qualities really promotes the dank qualities. Its still very IPA style and still very american.
Comet and Apollo are a great combination, they work ok at 1:1 but better at 2:1, adding a fruity hop does not make the others pop. My experience is the reverse is true for fruit hops.
I will probably go for a massive dry hop of a Apollo only, with a big hop stand combination of Apollo and Comet probably at a 2:1 ration in flavor of Apollo. Apollo in the boil.